Flu
by railover85
Summary: "Remember that time I had the flu? That would be an improvement right now." -The Batman, Dick Grayson- Well, here is that time he had the flu, my way!
1. Chapter 1

"Hey Jen, you've got a phone call," One of the fellow nurses told me while I was stitching up a patient.

Working in a hospital I was bound to illness 10 hours a day. I see kids come here all the time with the flu or injuries', so going home it's always nice to see my healthy family. Or at least, we _were_ always healthy. My husband is the richest man in town, Bruce Wayne, then there's our adopted son Dick Grayson and something about the 3 of us we never seem to get sick. I only get calls really when Bruce has some question or it's one of the Justice League members needing help. I didn't like to answer them while stitching up wounds: I always stitched up the kids because I did the quickest stitches. I turned to Rebecca, the nurse in the door, still holding the needle.

"I'm kind of in the middle of something Becky, who is it?" I hated being interrupted while working on a kid, and the nurses knew that so they didn't bother until I walked out unless it was an emergency.

"It's the nurse at Gotham Elementary."

And I stopped cold: Dick goes there, and the last time she got called down there it was he had gotten into a fight and ended up with a broken arm. I hated having to go to the school, it always was for bad things, "Finish up these stitches for me Becky," I sighed handing her the needle and walked out to the phone, "Nurse Jennifer Bleu how can I help you?"

"_Hello Miss Bleu, this is the nurse-"_

"Yes I know," Jen leaned against the counter, "I hate to sound snippy but I've got a large workload right now, can you just tell why you're calling me?"

"_I'm sorry; well there is a strand of flu going around the school at the moment. High fevers, vomiting, cough, stuffy nose, the normal."_

"And you want my staff to come and give shots?" I was getting a bit aggravated at this point, it's not like I'm in charge of this sort of stuff. Just tell me what you want!

"_No ma'am, this is about your son Richard."_

"Oh," I sighed and sat down, "Is he all right?"

"_Well he seems to have the same thing as the other students I've seen today. It's also policy for anyone with a fever higher than 100 to go home so the other students are risked exposure."_

"I can be there in about 20 minutes, is that all right?" Just what I needed right now, already having the mad flu rush here at the hospital and now Dick is sick? Just the luck I need.

"_Alright ma'am, see you then." _She hung up.

"Becky I have to go! Cover for me?" I slipped out of my scrubs to me shirt and jeans underneath.

"Sure Jen, take some time off. You've got enough of it as it is."

"And I like to keep it that way," With a final sigh I grabbed my purse and headed out to the car.

* * *

I made it to the school within 20 minutes, just like I thought. Knowing where to go, I headed into the main office to sign Dick out before heading to the nurses. As soon as I walked in I saw what she meant by mobbed, in this room that was the size of their garage (which was still quite large but small for a nurse's office) was full of kids, one on each bed then kids standing or sitting in odd places waiting to be picked up or to get some help from the nurse.; although, I didn't see Dick anywhere. I walked up to the nurses desk, "Um, hi. I'm Jennifer Bleu, I'm here for Richard."

"He's in the bathroom, please wait for him outside my office ma'am," She was so swamped she didn't even turn around. I knew how it felt; it got like this in the ER a lot too. With a thank you I nodded and walked out. Leaning against the wall I looked around, the school seemed so quite compared to when I'm normally here at about 3. I also noticed how dirty the school seemed, 'Maybe that's why half the student body is sick' I thought as the door to the nurses' office opened, and out came Dick.

"Hey small fry," I knelt down to get a better look at his face. He looked pale and feverish; I wonder why Bruce or Alfred hadn't noticed this morning? He was still asleep when I left, which I should have known wouldn't be a good sign; I left an hour before he did and he was still always up before me. I rested my hand on his forehead, "How you feeling?"

"Bad…" He muttered quietly as his eyes slowly shut. You could tell he was about to pass out, he probably got no sleep last night. He was also burning up; I carefully took him into my arms and stood up.

"You know," I said taking him to the car, "If you don't feel good you should say so before you head to school."

Somehow, I knew this was going to be something different than the normal flu.


	2. Chapter 2

I hate it when I'm right.

It was only about a 20 minute car ride home and throughout the entire ride I could tell how sick Dick truly was. He vomited twice during the ride, couldn't stop coughing and kept mumbling random this that I honestly didn't understand (which I guess was from lack of sleep). I kept trying to go over this in my head, like there was no way he got this bad over night, and that maybe that we haven't been paying enough attention to him; but all my thoughts were interrupted by a faint voice beside me.

"J-Jen…." Dick muttered in half-conciseness.

"What is it small fry?" I looked over at him slightly, for some reason he looked paler.

"I-I don't…. feel good…." He curled up on his chair.

"I know honey, we're almost home," I pulled into the Manor's driveway.

"T-tummy…." He whined.

I parked the car and looked over at the child again. He was pale, but his eyes had the red fever look to them. He also looked liked he hasn't slept in a few days (which is partly my own fault for letting him hang out in the cave while I re-laid details on a drug bust to Bruce). With a sign I got out of the car to get a towel to clean him up some before taking him in. I turned him out towards the door and used the slightly damp towel to wipe off his face and shirt as much as I could before picking him up. He usually hates when Bruce or I pick him up, but he didn't say anything, just laid his head on my shoulder as I walked inside.

"Mistress Jennifer?" Alfred was cleaning the floor as I walked in, "Your home quite early."

"Yes," I hung up my coat, "Alfred I need to you call the hospital and say I'm going to be out the rest of the week."

Alfred turned to get a better look at me, thinking something was wrong with _me._ It wasn't until he was fully facing me that he saw the small 8-year-old in my arms who looked severely ill and about to pass out, "My word, what is wrong with Master Richard?"

"My guess is Bruce was 'too busy' to take him to his flu shot appointment when I scheduled it last week and Dick got the flu. Half of Gotham has it right now," I felt stupid for trying to get Bruce to take him in the first place, "I'm going to get him changed into some clean clothes, can you bring me up some cough meds, a thermometer, and a wet wash cloth please."

"No problem ma'am," Alfred nodded and went into the kitchen.

I made my way up the stairs to Dick's room. When I walked in I saw what a mess it was, which was odd because Dick kept his room usually tidy. He liked it a "certain way", as he says. I walked over to his bed and set him down, "Just sit tight for a second honey," I then walked over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of pajamas. I giggled some at the fact they were Batman PJ's, he got them when he first moved in, before he knew that Batman was Bruce and Black Dove was me.

I turned around to see Dick was no longer on the bed. I then looked around and saw the bathroom door shut; I walked over and knocked, "Dick honey, you OK?" No response, I knocked again, "Richard?"

"No," Was the only faint response I got. Sighing, I slowly opened the door to find Dick on the floor leaning against the wall. He had a bit of vomit on the side of his mouth, but his school uniform was a complete mess. I knelt down in front of him and picked him up. I slipped off his school blazer and then I saw something: a bruise on his right shoulder. I could tell it was new, it was just starting to show, which worried me.

"Richard," I said staring into his half-shut eyes, "What is this from?"

"N-noffin'." He mumbled.

"Dick, this isn't nothing," I put him down on his bed, "Wha- _who_ did this?"

After a few minutes, I got an answer: in the quietest voice I've ever heard, "Marcus."

You remember that I said I had gone to the school because Dick had gotten into a fight? Well, there was this boy who was born into the rich family, Marcus….Barns I think his last name is, was that boy. He just doesn't like the fact that Dick is in the "rich kid" school, even though he wasn't always a rich kid. I dropped the whole conversation, sighed and went back to grab his pajamas. I helped him get changed, he was tired and a bit weak, but soon enough he was tucked into bed: and perfect timing as Alfred was just coming in with what I asked for. He also brought a cup of hot chocolate for Dick and a cup of tea for myself.

"Thank you Alfred." I took the tray and put them on the nightstand next to the bed, first taking Dick temperature, "Alfred could you get me a pad of paper and a pen please?"

* * *

2 hours after Dick had come home I had taken his temp, which was 101.5 at the time, given him a round of medicine and started taking notes on what he was doing and what he was showing. Fever, pale, vomiting, coughing, a bit of sneezing, fatigue, lose of appetite, a sore throat and a few others. By the time I had exited Dick's room, as he had finally fallen asleep, Bruce was just coming home.

"Hey hun," I walked over to meet my husband at the door, holding my note pad. I kissed his cheek, "How was work?"

"Not much better than any other day, what about you?" He hung up his coat when he realized something, or _someone_, was missing, "Where's Dick?"

"We need to talk about that," He didn't know it yet, but I was thoroughly pissed at him. As it was HIS job to take him to the doctor to get the flu shot. I turned around and went back upstairs to our room, I knew I was in for a long night.


	3. Chapter 3

As we walked into the bedroom, I was working out what to say to him: it had to be perfect. I mean, this isn't the FIRST time he hasn't done something I've asked him to do and he said he would. So after he entered the room, I slammed the door shut and turned to face him. That was the first clue something was wrong; let's see how great a detective he is.

He was silent for a few moments before saying, "Something wrong?"

"Do you remember what you had to do for me last week?" I shot him a glare, clue two being 'I'm mad at you and you better figure it out before I have to tell you.'

Once again, he was silent for a minute or two. He truly must have forgotten, "It had something to do with Dick, didn't it?"

"Such a deduction genius," I said with sarcasm in my voice, "What was it?!"

This time it only took him a few seconds to figure out what had me so mad, "I forgot to take him for his flu shot, didn't I?"

"Gee Bruce, what do you think?! It was the one thing I asked of you last week, I was too busy to take him! You couldn't even have thought it through to ask Alfred to do it, or tell me you couldn't!"

And with that we started to argue, and I can't quite remember for how long. But in that time, a thunderstorm started; but neither of us could tell. In fact, we didn't hear two things: One was the thunder outside the window, and two was the opening of the door as the small 8-year-old ran in. I felt bad that he had to listen to us argue, but neither of us noticed he had entered till I almost lost balance as he clung to my legs followed by a boom of thunder. I sighed, I knew he didn't like thunderstorms; it reminded him of the night he lost his parents.

"Dickie, I need you to let go," I looked down at him, and even though I knew he scared I couldn't do anything for him if I couldn't move; I love the kid and all, but I'm not going to hop around so he can hold my legs. He shook his head no and clung tighter.

Before I could say anything else though, Bruce moved behind me and pulled him off my legs, which in turn did make me lose my balance. I looked up at him, "Thanks," He gave me his hand and helped me up.

"So, now what?" He handed Dick off to me, "Shouldn't he be in, bed or something?"

"He was," There was always this thick, awkward feeling in the air when me and Bruce argued; it just didn't go away easily. At least since Dick came to live here, it gave us something else to think about besides the argument, so I turned my attention to him, "What are you doing out of bed, small fry?"

"Too loud," He mumbled, and another boom of thunder roared through the manor. I don't know why I asked, I should have known that's why he was up, I was just hoping he wouldn't say he vomited again or something. He shook slightly in my grasps, although it could be from the flu or the fear of thunderstorms, hard to tell at the moment. Carefully, I put him on the ground between me and Bruce.

"Why don't you and Bruce head back to your room, and I'll bring you some hot chocolate and soup, sound good small fry?" I said kneeling in front of him. He grunted, or mumbled I couldn't really tell the difference with how congested he sounded, and walked out of the room; Bruce in tow.

I smiled, stood up and went into the kitchen. It felt nice to cook again, I don't do it that often; Alfred prefers for us to stay out of the kitchen from the time Bruce blew up the microwave when we were teenagers, so I normally just let Alfred do it. But this time I wanted too. So first I started the soup, clam chowder with crackers. While that was cooking I made the hot chocolate, along with some coffee and tea.

* * *

Within about 20 minutes everything was ready, and I took up a tray with it all up to Dick's room. Opening the door, I saw something that could only be described as adorable. There on the bed was Dick curled up on his side up to Bruce, both of whom had fallen asleep. Maybe I was downstairs longer than I thought, but honestly: this was so cute I didn't bother to check. Setting the tray down on the nightstand, I pulled the blanket over them, pulled a chair over and sat to drink my tea. I could re-heat the soup later…


End file.
